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Tag: el-rufai

  • El-Rufai reshuffles cabinet

    Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has reshuffled the state’s cabinet, according to a statement by Samuel Aruwan, the governor’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity on Tuesday in Kaduna.

    Aruwan stated that the reshuffle included the swapping of commissioners, nomination of new commissioners, appointment of new permanent secretaries and some retirements.

    The governor’s aide noted that El-Rufai announced the changes during the state executive council meeting and thanked council members for the successes the government recorded so far.

    He quoted the governor as saying “the commissioners swapping portfolios include
    Amina Sijuwade, moved from Ministry of Justice to Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, while Dr Maigari Manzo moved from Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.

    “Shehu Balarabe moves from Ministry of Environment to become Commissioner, Stakeholder Relations, while Mohammed Bashir Saidu who is now Chief of Staff, relinquishes the office of Commissioner for Local Government.

    “Rabi Abdulsalam, former Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, becomes Special Adviser on Social Development, while Dr Shehu Usman Adamu, former Commissioner of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, returns to academia.”

    The governor also nominated four commissioners for confirmation by the Kaduna State House of Assembly.

    They are Umma Hikima, Clerk of the House of Assembly as Commissioner of Justice and Attorney-General, Prof. Kabiru Mato, currently Special Adviser, Intergovernmental Relations, as Commissioner for Agriculture and Forestry.

    Also nominated was Hafsat Baba as Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Jafaru Sani, Permanent Secretary Cabinet Affairs, as Commissioner for Local Government.

    The governor also reassigned three special advisers namely Uba Sani as Special Adviser, Political Matters and Intergovernmental Relations, Chris Umar, Deputy Chief of Staff is to become Solicitor-General, while Murtala Dabo, Special Adviser, Economic Matters, is appointed Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport.

    The governor also announced the appointment of eight new permanent secretaries.

    They include Mohammed Mahmoud Shuaibu; Ministry of Health and Human Services, Chris Umar; Ministry of Justice, Rabilu Shehu Ibrahim; Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Joseph Steven is for Ministry of Local Government.

    Also appointed as permanent secretaries were Habiba Anana Shekarau; General Services, Office of the SSG, Lawrence Shemang; Ministry of Water Resources and Murtala Dabo; Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport.

    Mr Abdullahi Sani; Cabinet Affairs and Special Services, Office of the SSG.

    El-Rufai said five permanent secretaries have been redeployed as follows:

    Hauwa Umar; Ministry of Women and Social Development, Ibrahim Shehu Jere; Bureau of Establishments, Management and Training.

    Ibrahim Sambo; Ministry of Rural and Community Development, Nuhu Ishaku Buzun; Public Service Office, Office of the Head of Service, Aishatu Mohammed; Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, while five permanent secretaries have retired.

    The governor expressed appreciation for their services to the state.

     

    NAN

     

  • Yes, there are cabals in Aso Rock but I am not part of it – El-Rufai

     

    Following reports in some quarters that he is an influential decision maker of the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said he is too busy solving problems in his state to take on another role in the presidency.

    El-Rufai said despite his closeness to President Muhammamdu Buhari, he was not part of the cabals, who influenced things in the Villa.

    The governor revealed this while addressing some editors in Kaduna recently.

    In El-Rufai’s words: “It is not correct to say I am part of those that influence things in the Villa. Am I very close to Buhari? Yes. I worked very closely with him in the CPC (Congress for Progressive Change) when everyone had given up on him. I know him, I know how he thinks and he trusts me. He knows that I am driven by public interest. Do I participate in federal decision making? I don’t.

    “I am too busy addressing Kaduna problems to be part of it. When I am called for an opinion or when I happen to be around, and I have an input or if I see something going seriously wrong; I drive and go and see Mr. President I have heard A, B, C, D.

    “I don’t think it is not right, you should consider doing C, D, E. I do that and I drive back to Kaduna. My primary assignment is Kaduna. I am not involved in the Federal Government. People like to say and attribute so much to me, and sometimes it is good for me, it gives me a larger than life image. Is there a cabal?

    “There is always a cabal. Even in your own newspaper houses, there is a cabal. Nobody can run an institution without a coterie of two, three, four trusted people. There is always a cabal; the issue is whether it is a positive or a disruptive cabal. Am I a member of the cabal? No, I am governor of Kaduna state; I work for Kaduna state 24/7.”

  • Killings in Southern Kaduna started under Yakowa, Yero – El-Rufai

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said the killings and destruction of properties currently ongoing in Southern Kaduna dated way back to the administrations of his predecessors in office.

    El-Rufai said his administration has been at the forefront of restoring peace to the troubled part of the state.

    El-Rufai spoke on Thursday on a monitored programme on television.

    The governor noted that while the efforts so far in restoring peace was yielding results, some traditional rulers in the affected part have continually sabotaged his government’s efforts.

    El-Rufai also blamed the media for allegedly twisting his effort towards ending the crisis through compensation of Fulani herdsmen.

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls that late Patrick Yakowa was governor of Kaduna State from 20 May 2010 – 15 December 2012. On 15 December 2012 he died in a helicopter crash along with the former National Security Adviser Gen. Owoye Andrew Azazi (rtd) while flying from Bayelsa State to Port Harcourt. They were returning from the funeral of Oronto Douglas’ father in Beyelsa state. He was succeeded by Mukhtar Yero.

    He noted that killings had started since the time of governor Yakowa, claiming his government was the one making effort to find a lasting solution to it.

    In his words: “Southern Kaduna communities were attacked under Yakowa and my predecessor but I am the one trying to solve it.

    “I am being accused for paying to kill. I am the one doing everything to stop the killings and I am the one being attacked.

    “What I did was compensate to stop the killings and one newspaper decided to twist it.

    “Someone paid youths, and asked them to kill.”

    He also claimed that those benefiting from the killings in the area have continued to sabotage government’s effort.

    He added, “In March 2016, the Kafanchan Peace Declaration was signed and in May, another crisis broke.

    “The conflict entrepreneurs who have been benefiting from conflicts decided they had to derail the peace process.”

    The governor also noted that no one has been tried since the crisis started.

    He said, “Since the crisis started, no one ever got prosecuted.

    “We are focusing on 3 major steps to end the crisis. The first is ensuring adequate security in Southern Kaduna.

    “The second step is prosecuting those responsible for the crisis and the third is the Peace Building Process.

    “We are working closely with the traditional rulers, but some of them are the problem.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Catholic Church in December put the casualty figure in the Southern Kaduna crisis at 808.

  • Police parades 17 suspected Fulani herdsmen over Southern Kaduna killings

    Police parades 17 suspected Fulani herdsmen over Southern Kaduna killings

    The Police at Force headquarters on Wednesday paraded 17 suspects arrested in connection with the violence in Kafanchan and environs in Southern Kaduna which has claimed the lives of many persons and led to destruction of property.

    The 17 suspects according to the Force Public relations Officer, CSP Jimoh Moshood were arrested for inciting public disturbance, disturbance of public peace, causing mischief by fire, culpable homicide, theft and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms.

    Explaining how the suspects were arrested, CSP Moshood said, “Concerned by the recent unfortunate sectarian crisis in Kafanchan and neighbouring communities in Kaduna state where so many lives were lost and properties worth millions of naira destroyed, and the need to put a final stop to the crisis, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris constituted a Joint Tactical Operations Squad.

    “The Squad known as Operation Harmony comprised the Police Mobile Squad, Counter Terrorism Unit, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Intelligence Response Team, SIB, Explosive Ordinance Department, IGP Monitoring Unit, Police K9 (Sniffer Dog Section), Police Air Wing and Police Medical Team with headquarters in Kafanchan.

    Suspects in Southern Kaduna killings “The Operation recorded remarkable achievements in tackling the crisis and preventing further disturbance of public peace across Southern Kaduna. [

    The suspects made up of both Fulani herdsmen and Natives of Southern Kaduna include Nelson Paul, the arms supplier to the suspects; Bulus Jatau, Magaji Shuaibu, Danlami Yakubu, Idris Bello, Danjuma Barde, Goma Adamu, Samuel Joshua, and Abdulkareem Abdul. Others are Haruna Ilyasu, Hassan Idris, Adamu Haruna, Adamu Umar, Suleiman Saleh, Abubakar Muhammadu, and Muhammadu Jori.

    The Force PRO gave a breakdown of arms and ammunition recovered from the suspects saying, “A total number of 29 assorted firearms and ammunition were recovered from their possession.

    “All the suspects will be charged to court on completion of investigation for inciting public disturbance, disturbance of public peace, causing mischief by fire, culpable homicide, theft and unlawful possession of arms” Moshood said.

    Responding to questions, the FPRO said more suspects will soon be arrested noting that investigations was still going on concerning individual and collective roles played in the crisis.

    He assured the people and communities of Southern Kaduna of the resolve of the IGP to ensure adequate security and protection of lives and property while enjoining them to be law abiding and give peace a chance to prevail and cooperate with the police personnel deployed in their localities.

    When asked how he got the guns he sold to the other suspects, Nelson Paul said he got them from Plateau State adding that he sold each of the guns which included 3 AK 47 Rifles, between N30, 000 and N40, 000.

  • I am not sponsoring Southern Kaduna crisis – El-Rufai

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said as alleged in some quarters, he is not a religious bigot and not behind the sponsorship of the crisis currently engulfing Southern Kaduna.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that El-Rufai spoke on Tuesday when he received a six-member senate Adhoc Committee led by Senator Kabiru Gaya, who had come to assess the situation in the state.

    El-Rufai said the crisis in happening in Southern Kaduna had being lingering for about 35years but gave assurances that his administration was making frantic efforts to ensure all the perpetrators are arrested and punished according to law.

    In his words: “I am the governor of Kaduna state, if you break the law you will be punished.

    “The entire Kaduna city has been divided and there is need to regain the confidence and come together.

    “I am not an ethnic jingoist or a religious bigot so those who alleged that I am sponsoring Southern Kaduna crisis are just mischievous, no governor wants crisis in his state,” El.Rufai said.

    Speaking on their mission in the state, Gaya accused politicians of using the crisis for political gain.

    The lawmaker disclosed that the committee was set up to investigate the causes of the frequent attacks.

    “Part of the mission of the Adhoc committee are to interact , discuss with government , stakeholders, community leaders, security agencies and other relevant bodies that will contribute to bringing lasting peace,” he said.

     

  • [Video] Southern Kaduna Crisis: Pastor Okafor calls El-Rufai short Herod, says ‘enough is enough’

    Founder, Mountain of Liberation and Miracle Ministries (MLMM) aka Liberation City, Dr. Chris Okafor, lambasted Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai over the incessant killings in Souther-Kaduna.

     

     

    The angry man of God labelled El-Rufai as a short king Herod while delivering a message on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

    He said, “In a country where there is government and nobody is saying anything over the killings of innocent people and when anybody says anything they go after that person”

    “Over 800 people have been killed and no arrest has been made not even El-Rufai the short herod made a statement over the killings”

    “A man cried to me that about two weeks ago and I was weeping in my office, he said he has no place to live, he said his seven children and wife with pregnant was killed. He said he ran for his dear life and now live his life as a widower.”

    “Nobody own this country, that we are keeping quiet doesn’t mean we are quiet. Enough is a enough, we all own this country, if the country does not belong to everyone then let the country be divided.”

  • We’ll soon abolish the use of blackboards in public schools – El-Rufai

    Governor Nasiru El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State on Saturday said the use of blackboards as teaching facility in public schools across the state would be stopped.

    Speaking as the Chief Host at the 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Zaria Education Development Association (ZEDA) held in Zaria, the governor said the measure was aimed at eliminating the hazard posed to health of teachers by the facility.

    Represented by Prof. Andrew Nok, Commissioner for Education, El-Rufa’i also said that government was prepared to give intensive ICT training to public school teachers in rural areas to enable them cope with the present e-learning challenges.

    He said that government had already procured 5,000 Tablets (minicomputer facilities) for distribution to teachers in public schools.

    According to him, about N3 billion has been committed for infrastructural development in unity schools across the state.

    In his speech, the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT), ZEDA, Prof. Idris Abdulkadir, who is also the former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), said the association had since inception 25 years ago, focused its energy towards enhancing the education of children in Kaduna State and Nigeria at large.

    Dr Abdul Alimi-Bello, Chairman, Central Working Committee (CWC) of ZEDA, stressed the need for commitment from all and sundry to enable children gain admission into universities and institutions of higher learning.

    Alimi-Bello observed that despite series of achievements recorded by the association, it still had some laudable programmes lined up but were yet to be implemented due to financial constraints.

    He appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to support ZEDA towards complementing the efforts of government in developing the education sector.

    In his speech, Emir of Zazzau, Dr Shehu Idris, pleaded with members of the society, especially well-to-do and elites, to contribute their quota in enhancing education of the youth.

    The Emir, who was represented by a traditional title holder of ‘Fagacin Zazzau’,Alhaji Umar Mohammed, lauded the achievements recorded by ZEDA and urged it to continue the good work.

    In his remark, Proprietor of Prof. Ango Abdullahi International School, Zaria, Dr Aliyu Shamsuddeen, announced a 50 per cent scholarship to 50 students from Zaria Emirate to study in his primary and secondary school.

     

     

    NAN

  • Southern Kaduna Crisis: Buhari, El-Rufai playing politics with peoples’ lives – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said the wanton killing of Christians by herdsmen in Southern Kaduna has continued unabated as a result of the shabby response and attention President Muhammadu Buhari and the Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai accorded the cries of the hapless victims.

    The party was reacting to a recent statement credited to the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity (SSA), Garba Shehu, on a television programme where he was quoted as saying that the killings in Southern Kaduna ‎was partly the fault of the PDP because it was the only Senatorial District in the North West with PDP Senator.

    Recall that TheNewsGuru.com had reported the Kaduna State Governor as saying that all those behind the killings will be properly tried and punished according to law.

    In a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye and obtained by TheNewsGuru.com on Monday, the party said: “We are baffled that such a callous, irresponsible and insensitive statement could come from a person who speaks for the President of Nigeria.

    “This shows the extent to which every issue in the Country today is viewed from the APC’s and the Presidency’s extremely narrow and jaundiced partisan political prism.

    “Is Garba Shehu inferring that the hapless people of southern Kaduna were singled out for genocide because they elected a PDP senator? Or that the People invited such mindless violence upon themselves by choosing to be different in a sea of APC domination?”

    “It is high time those in authority learned that we cannot reduce everything to partisan politics. You do not play politics with the lives of millions of people. That’s exactly what APC Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el Rufai and President Buhari have been doing with the lives of the people of Southern Kaduna.

    “Beyond politics, we are all accountable to God almighty. We once again call for an international inquiry into the Southern Kaduna massacre. We have little faith that those at the helm of affairs at the State and National levels will do justice in the matter.”

    Recall also that the TheNewsGuru.com had reported that the governor had begged the Methodist prelate Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Kanu Uche on Thursday not to relocate the church over the wanton killings saying his government would provide another land for the church and also improve the security of lives and properties in the state.

     

  • Southern Kaduna Crisis: Don’t relocate your church, El-Rufai begs Methodist prelate

     

    Governor Nasir Elrufai of Kaduna State on Thursday prevailed on the prelate of the Methodist Church, Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Kanu Uche not to relocate the church due to the raging crisis while also promising to provide additional land for building of Methodist Church in Kafanchan, Southern Kaduna.

    The governor made the promise when he received the prelate in his office in Kaduna.

    In his words: “I visited your church in Kafanchan after the violence. We are willing to give you another plot of land in Kafanchan, but please consider using it to build an additional church.

    “We request that you do not abandon or relocate the church from your present site. Let us not succumb to the agents of blackmail and division.

    “Your neighbuors in Kafanchan must accept the right of that church to remain there. The current church should be rebuilt and maintained as a symbol of the right to worship freely.”

    El-Rufai said that the government was committed to securing the area and returning to normalcy.

    He disclosed that 10 mobile police squadrons were now deployed to the affected local governments, along with two battalions of the army.

    The governor further requested that the religious leaders should discourage the tendency to allow criminals to hide behind religion.

    “When individuals have problems or disputes, they should not be allowed to mobilize emotions by escalating their differences into an ethnic or religious conflict”, he stated.

    El-Rufai thanked the Methodists Church for showing solidarity with the people and government of Kaduna State in this trying moment.

    Earlier in his remarks, the prelate, Kanu Uche, urged the Governor not to relent in his quest to restore peace and security in Southern Kaduna.

    “We note that you are being blamed over the violence in southern Kaduna. Please take that as the price of leadership.

    “We know that the issue has been happening before your government. I remember the 1987 events vividly.

    “We call on the people of Kaduna State to accept each other, to be tolerant, and to say no to violence. I have served in Kano. I do not see why we should fight each other. Nobody can Christianise or Islamise Nigeria.

    “Let us learn to live together in peace. Religion should preserve lives. Anybody who kills is a criminal. Those who sponsor killings should be arrested”, he stressed.

     

  • El-Rufai, Nigerian Army collaborated to secretly bury slain Shiites – Falana

     

    Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has accused the Kaduna State Government as led by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of aiding the Nigerian Army in secretly burying slain Shiites.

    He also accused El-Rufai of failing to prosecute the soldiers that killed 347 members of the sect.

    “The Kaduna State government has refused to prosecute the soldiers who killed the 347 Shiites as recommended by the judicial commission of inquiry which it had set up,” Falana said in a statement on Thursday.

    “The Kaduna state government aided and abetted the army in the secret burial of the bodies of the slain Shiites in a mass grave in Mango village, near Zaria.

    “As if those atrocities were not enough, the Kaduna state government proceeded to demolish the houses of the Shiites leader, Sheik Ibraheem Elzakzaky. Apart from witnessing the gruesome murder of three of their children, Elzakzaky and his wife who were subjected to horrendous brutalisation from the troops have been detained without trial since December 14, 2015.

    “Having lost his right eye, Elzakzaky has applied to seek medical treatment abroad. But the request has been rejected by the State Security Service. In a grand display of impunity the order of the federal high court that the couple be released from detention and be provided with accommodation by the government which has rendered them homeless has been treated with disdain.”

    Falana also criticized President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to order the army authorities to court martial the soldiers involved in the killings.

    “In the same vein, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, President Buhari has refused to direct the army authorities to constitute a court-martial for the trial of the military officers who issued the illegal order for the genocidal acts,” he added.